Fritz

I meant to post days ago, but our internet was on the fritz. A really annoying, frustrating situation, but, on the upside, I got to try to explain the English phrase "on the fritz" to my roommates. They think it's pretty great, because they used to know a guy named Fritz. They speculated that the original Fritz was a big, clumsy man who broke a lot of stuff (they wanted to know if it would be possible to substitute a different name, like "on the Lindsay," not that they were calling me clumsy).
Anyways, I fixed the internet, and now I can finally post a picture from the May 1st "unrest." May 1st is the "day of work," a national holiday for workers, and, here in Kreuzberg (my district of Berlin) a day for the radical left to start a revolution (riot, brawl with police, and set cars on fire). The revolution/protest has its roots in the squatters movements of the 1980s and early 90s. What I find striking about this is that it's a tradtion. The violence hasn't really been a problem for several years (this year, there were just over 100 arrests and only a few trash cans set on fire), but thousands of people turn out in and around Oranienplatz to see if the revolution will take.
The revolution is supposed to be a socialist one, and involves lots of anti-capitalist slogans and recently protests against the "yuppification" of the district, but all those hungry, thirsty radical socialists have to eat and drink. But since the restaurants are always closed, everyone who lives around there (and can cook or owns a cooler) sets up a table on the sidewalk and makes a nice profit selling beer (Becks), pop (Coke), and sausages (probably some other evil corporation). I know we're post-irony and Alanis found God and all, but doesn't that make you cringe/laugh a little?